C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Almaz-104 is a 35mm SLR produced by LOMO (Leningradskoye Optiko-Mekhanicheskoye Obyedineniye) in Leningrad, introduced around 1985 as a successor to the Almaz-103. It retains the same M42 universal screw mount and vertical-travel metal focal-plane shutter of its predecessor, while incorporating refinements to the body ergonomics and viewfinder. Like the Almaz-103, the design shows clear influence from Nikon's professional SLR architecture of the 1970s, particularly the top-plate layout and prism hump profile. TTL center-weighted CdS metering with match-needle display in the viewfinder is retained. The Almaz-104 represents the final meaningful development of the Almaz line before the Soviet camera industry's decline in the late 1980s curtailed further investment.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The refined successor to LOMO's M42 professional SLR - a late-Soviet evolution of the Almaz line.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | M42 universal screw |
| Years | ~1985 - ~1992 |
| Shutter | ~1s - 1/1000s + B, vertical metal |
| Flash sync | ~1/125s |
| Meter | Center-weighted TTL CdS |
| Modes | Manual |
| Weight | ~870 g |
| Battery | 2x PX625 / SR44 |
| Focus aids | Split-prism, microprism, matte |
The Almaz-103 established LOMO's ambitions in the professional 35mm SLR segment by the early 1980s. The Almaz-104 followed approximately three years later as a refined iteration rather than a ground-up redesign. LOMO's engineering resources were constrained by the factory's primary role as a military optical manufacturer; the Almaz cameras benefited from precision machining capacity that the Zenit line at KMZ could not always match, but their production volumes were correspondingly low. The Almaz-104 appeared during the period of Gorbachev's perestroika reforms, which simultaneously opened Soviet markets to imported goods and reduced state subsidy for domestically produced consumer equipment. This economic context limited the Almaz-104's production window to roughly the late 1980s and early 1990s. The line did not continue beyond this point.
The Almaz-104 is among the last serious Soviet-era professional 35mm SLRs produced before the industry's collapse. As a direct successor to the Almaz-103, it shows how LOMO engineers refined an already capable design in modest but meaningful ways. For collectors of Soviet cameras, the Almaz line represents the upper tier of USSR 35mm SLR engineering - above the mass-market Zenit bodies in both build quality and scarcity. The Almaz-104's rarity in Western markets makes it significantly harder to acquire than Zenit or Praktika bodies of the same period, lending it a certain desirability within the Soviet camera collecting community.
Mount: M42 universal (42mm x 1mm pitch screw). Accepts the full range of M42 glass:
No dedicated Almaz-104 winder or accessory system is known.
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →LOMO Almaz-104
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